HVK Archives: Kesri's new think-tank gets down to business
Kesri's new think-tank gets down to business - The Times of India
M D Nalapat
()
14 January 1997
Title : Kesri's new think-tank gets down to business
Author : M D Nalapat
Publication : The Times of India
Date : January 14, 1997
Ahmed Patel and Ghulam Nabi Azad are two favourites of all-India
Congress committee president Sitaram Kesri. Both are a part of his
new secretariat. However, their prescriptions for the many
ailments suffered by the 112-year-old party are totally different.
In this, they mirror the schism that is developing within the
party over what course to follow vis-a-vis the Deve Gowda
government.
Ghulam Nab! Azad, who is an influential member of the Sharad Pawar
group within the Congress, is a believer in the restorative effects
of, power. Ideally, he and others of his persuasion would like the
Congress party to head a new coalition at the centre in which the
prime ministership and other key portfolios would be held by his
party.
In case it is not feasible to get enough MPs to accept a
Congress-led, government, the next best option would be to have a
Congressman as Deputy Prime Minister, reducing the PM to a
figurehead. Again, key portfolios such as home, defence, external
affairs and finance would be vested in the party.
In tracking Congress manoeuvres, it is safe to assume that nothing
is confirmed unless it is officially denied. Thus spokesmen of that
party have been repeatedly claiming that there is no Intention of
Congress being a participant in government: However, the private
messages, including the efforts to woo the TMC, the DMK, the TDP
and others, are very different. They betray a hunger for office
that is gnawing and deep.
Unfortunately, except for the Samajwadi Party, the private response
of the others to such siren calls has been negative. Neither Mr
Laloo Yadav nor Mr R.K. Hegde has bean able to entice MPs in Bihar
and Karnataka respectively to cease support for the Gowda
government, which is why the former has once again expressed
support for the UF experiment while the latter is adopting a low
profile and letting Professor Venkatagiri Gowda and others do the
demolition job on the Prime Minister.
Private soundings indicate that the major reason for the
dissatisfaction of former ministers in the Gandhi and Rao regimes
springs from the lack of response to their frequent requests for
favours. "Why should I risk jail after five years to make XYZ
rich?" a cabinet minister asked. Thanks to the courts and the
media and the activity of the investigating agencies, there is for
the first time a healthy fear of punishment among ministers.
As a result, the income streams of most Congress functionaries are
drying up. This state of affairs is naturally incompatible with the
national interest. By having the Mishras and the Narayanswamys
constantly threaten withdrawal of support, these individuals hope
that the strike rate for the favours demanded will rise from the
current low levels.
The current Congress top brass, weaned in the balmy days of the
Gandhi and Rao eras, is eager for the return of a system that will
once again enable them and their friends to reap the rewards of
selfless service. While Mr Sitaram Kesri has made the fight
against corruption the centerpiece of his campaign, his choice, for
instance, of Sarekoppa Bangarappa in Karnataka and Sharad Pawar in
the Lok Sabha as the standard-bearers of this struggle has led to
doubts about the party leadership's real intentions.
Reports have it that the next MP to be welcomed back into the fold
will be Kalpnath Rai, another politician not exactly known for his
struggles against graft.
Which brings us to the thinking of Mr Ahmed Patel. This view points
to the harm done to the Congress party by its earlier efforts at
securing a majority through manipulation. Whether it was the
setting -up of the Gul Shah ministry in Srinagar in July 1984 or
the Bhaskara Rao regime in Hyderabad in August of that year - not
to mention the 'homecoming' of Chimanbhai Patel in June 1922 - the
Congress party has paid a heavy electoral price for the politics of
manipulation.
Mr Ahmed Patel may not mention it, but the most glaring example of
such a process is the artificially induced majority created by Mr
Narasimha Rao in 1993. Had the them Prime Minister avoided
manipulation and gone to the people instead, he may have returned
to power with a legitimacy that may have enabled him to speed up
reforms. Instead, the JMM's sins resulted in a paralysis of his
government until the 1996 debacle.
According to Mr Patel and some others, it is better for the
Congress to give up its efforts at coming to power through the
backdoor. Instead, it should leave Mr Deve Gowda alone for two or
three years while it rebuilds its electoral base. After that, it
can call for an election and return to power through the 'royal
route' - in the words of a CWC member - of elections.
The option of forming a government by buying and begging for
support from a collection of disparate and desperate individuals
will, according to this, view prove fatal to the Congress and allow
the BJP to come to power. "A true secularist would try and build up
the party rather than try for shortcuts," said a CWC member.
However, this is a minority view within the present unelected
councils of the Congress party. The only problem for the Azad
doctrine is that while Barkis may be willing, the other side does
not respond. Apart from newspaper headlines, there is little chance
of success for any efforts at recreating a Congress raj on the
Chimanbhai Patel model. The beneficiaries of the Gandhi and Rao
dynasties will have to wait a while.
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